- Brazil: Supreme Court Justice Suspends Bill That Ordered Early Release of Ex-President Bolsonaro
Source: US News & World Report
“Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes prohibited the implementation of a sharp reduction in the 27-year prison sentence of former President Jair Bolsonaro for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 election, a court document showed on Saturday. Two Brazilian political parties and the press association ABI this week separately challenged the bill, which would have potentially freed Bolsonaro in 2028. Congress last month overturned President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s veto of the bill, but the plaintiffs asked Brazil’s top court to overturn it, saying the bill was unconstitutional.” (05/09/26)
- Pakistan: Fourteen cops killed in car bombing, shootout
Source: Reuters
“A car bombing at a police post in northwestern Pakistan followed by an ambush on police personnel rushing to the scene has killed at least 14 officers, police said on Sunday. Images from after the attack on Saturday showed the structure had been reduced to rubble, with bricks, charred wreckage and mangled vehicles scattered around the area. … A militant alliance known as the Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attack.” (05/10/26)
- Virginia Democrats to appeal ruling against redistricting to SCOTUS
Source: NBC 4 Washington
“After the Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a voter-approved Democratic congressional redistricting plan, Democratic lawmakers in the commonwealth notified the court they intend to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. Friday’s ruling by the state supreme court delivered another major setback to the party’s nationwide battle against Republicans for an edge in this year’s midterm elections. Democrats, led by House Speaker Don Scott and Attorney General Jay Jones, filed a motion late Friday afternoon asking the state supreme court to pause its ruling from taking effect while they appeal for an emergency hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Virginia Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the state’s Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements when it placed the constitutional amendment on the ballot to authorize mid-decade redistricting.” (05/08/26)
- Italy: Venice Biennale opens without a jury amid strife over Russian and Israeli participation
Source: Associated Press
“Geopolitical tensions spilled over into the Venice Biennale contemporary art exhibition, which opens its most chaotic and contested edition in memory Saturday with no Golden Lions after the jury quit in protest of Israel’s and Russia’s participation and loud protests outside their pavilions. … Ahead of the opening, protesters objecting to Israel’s participation clashed with police on Friday. Earlier in the week, feminist groups from Ukraine and Russia converged on the Russian Pavilion and Palestinians remembered artists killed in Gaza.” (05/09/26)
- Hantavirus-hit passengers begin to disembark cruise ship in Tenerife
Source: CNN
“Passengers have begun to disembark the cruise ship at the center of the hantavirus outbreak, Spain’s ministry of health said, in a carefully managed repatriation operation in Tenerife involving multiple nations. Since the vessel departed Argentina last month, the deaths of three people have been linked to hantavirus — a rare disease typically caused by exposure to infected rats’ urine or feces. It remains a low risk to the general public, according to the World Health Organization. The boat’s arrival had caused tensions in the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain, with the territory’s leader Fernando Clavijo saying earlier in the week that he was opposed to the ship docking.” (05/10/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/10/health/live-news/hantavirus-cruise-outbreak
- Greece: Mystery drone boat “armed with explosives” seized by police
Source: Sky News
“A mystery drone boat understood to be armed with explosives is being investigated by police after being found by fishermen in Greece. The vessel, a Ukrainian-made unmanned surface vehicle (USV), appeared on the Ionian island of Lefkada. It is not clear how the boat, located on Thursday in a cave, reached Greek waters. Preliminary findings indicate the MAGURA V3-type sea drone was fitted with three detonators, officials told Reuters. One source told the news agency the vessel was loaded with explosives, although this has not been confirmed by Greece’s army.” (05/09/26)
- DR Congo: Rebel fighters kill at least 69
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“An attack by armed rebels has killed at least 69 people in Ituri province in the conflict-torn northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to security officials. For more than 30 years, the mineral-rich eastern DRC has been a battleground for various armed groups, vying for control of its many mines. … Armed men affiliated with the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO) coalition of militia groups, which claims to protect the Lendu, carried out attacks in several villages on April 28, local and security sources told the AFP news agency.” (05/10/26)
- MN: Nonprofit accused of siphoning $6.5 million to fund Vegas trips, luxury cars, private liquor store
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Friday a civil lawsuit against nonprofit We Push for Peace and its former directors, Trahern Pollard and Jaclyn McGuigan. The organization, which held lucrative contracts for community outreach and violence prevention, was driven into the ground by ‘rampant abuse’ and blatant self-dealing, prosecutors allege. According to the complaint, Pollard personally pocketed more than $6 million of the diverted charitable funds. Instead of helping the community, the charity’s money allegedly fueled a life of luxury for Pollard, paying for trips to Las Vegas, luxury vehicles and massive shopping sprees at a Harley Davidson showroom and spa stores. Pollard is also accused of using the nonprofit to pay off his child support, settle a personal tax bill with the IRS, and subsidize his private, for-profit businesses — including a used car dealership and liquor store.” (05/10/26)
- US consumer sentiment hits record low amid concerns about high prices
Source: United Press International
“Consumer sentiment in the United States has hit another record low as Americans worry about the cost of life as gas prices continue to rise amid the war in Iran. A monthly University of Michigan survey found that consumer sentiment dropped 3.2% in the last month — from 49.8 to 48.2 — and was down 7.7% over the course of the year, the university’s Institute for Social Research said on Friday. Joanne Hsu, director of the university’s Surveys of Consumers, said that consumer sentiment is ‘essentially unchanged’ from April, while the current economic conditions survey dropped 9% because of high prices affecting personal finances and whether people will make major purchases.” (05/08/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/05/08/consumer-sentiment-april-record-low-prices/1261778265310/
- Australia: One Nation party scores historic parliamentary win
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Australia’s One Nation party has won its first-ever lower-house seat in what is being seen as an important test for the right-wing populist party. With most ballots counted, One Nation candidate David Farley has won a two-candidate preferred vote share of 57% in Farrer, a vast regional constituency in New South Wales. Independent candidate Michelle Milthorpe is far behind. The contest was triggered by the resignation of Sussan Ley, who quit when she was ousted as leader of the opposition conservative Liberal Party. While the result will not affect the Labor government’s large majority, it is a clear sign that voters are moving away from traditional political parties in Australia.” (05/09/26)
- Sources: US regime nears US $400 million bribe deal with TikTok
Source: ABC News
“The Trump administration is nearing an agreement with TikTok to resolve an ongoing lawsuit over alleged child privacy violations in exchange for the social media company paying $400 million that the administration plans to use to fund President Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C., ‘beautification’ projects, sources familiar with the discussions told ABC News. … While the Department of Justice regularly reaches settlements with private companies accused of wrongdoing, the proposed TikTok settlement marks a departure from the practice of using the settlement funds to resolve the alleged wrongdoing or compensate victims.” (05/08/26)
- Hobbes’s State: “Why Are You Hitting Yourself?”
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter“As kids we may remember the old trope — often seen on TV or in movies — where a stronger kid would overpower a weaker kid and use the weaker kid’s hands and arms to hit him, asking mockingly, ‘Why are you hitting yourself?’ Most adults would recognize this as illegitimate for obvious reasons: though the weaker kid’s hands are literally hitting him, he is obviously being coerced against his will, such that the stronger kid is the aggressor. While most adults would pride themselves on the ability to distinguish between external coercion and self-inflicted punishment, they often fail this when it comes to the state. In fact, this is the very core of Thomas Hobbes’s social contract theory — since the state represents the people by social contract, whatever the state does to an individual, that individual has consensually done it to himself.” (05/08/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/hobbess-state-why-are-you-hitting-yourself
- Ted Turner: 24 Hours That Changed The News World
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“Since CNN’s launch, ‘the news’ has gone from short daily feeds covering pre-deadline events to 24/7/365 real-time coverage of far more things, in far more detail, by numerous and varied outlets. In theory, that should make the public much better informed than we used to be. We can know more OF what’s happened, and know more ABOUT what’s happened. In reality, I’m not sure our attention to important facts about important events has really increased. The 24-hour news environment seems far richer in sensationalism, pearl-clutching, and outrage bait than in useful information about the important stuff.” (05/09/26)
- Right-Wing Influencers Don’t Understand What Makes America Great
Source: Reason
by Stephanie Slade“The Dissident Right is furious with Neil Gorsuch for saying America is a creedal nation. That just goes to show how out of touch its obsessions are.” (05/09/26)
https://reason.com/2026/05/09/right-wing-influencers-dont-understand-what-makes-america-great/
- Iran war marks the end of American primacy as we know it
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Trita Parsi“The war in Ukraine shattered a core assumption about great-power dominance: that size and military strength are enough to impose one’s will. Ukraine showed otherwise. With the right strategy, geography, and resolve, a weaker state can survive and blunt — and in key respects even defeat — a much stronger adversary. The United States now faces an uncomfortable parallel. The war with Iran is exposing similar limits to American power. For decades, U.S. grand strategy has rested on primacy — the belief that America’s unmatched military capabilities enabled it to uphold global stability and shape outcomes across regions. After the failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, many Americans have reached a stark conclusion: the cost of primacy is no longer sustainable — and no longer serves U.S. interests.” (05/08/26)
- Why the Scarcity of News about Our Increasing Abundance?
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman“If today, compared to the past, you need to work only half the time to earn the money for a television, in effect, you’ve acquired half of the television for free! (Actually, you’ve done better than that because it will be a better television.) And you have the time to acquire other things or enjoy leisure. This is more or less true for everyone whose society is amenable to freedom of enterprise, the division of labor, and world trade.” (05/08/26)
https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-abundance-keeps-increasing
- Creators and Destroyers of Worlds
Source: Quillette
by Ian Nieves“Despite the dangers, we must seize the gifts bequeathed by existential dangers, since these amount to life in unprecedented abundance.” (05/09/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/05/09/creators-and-destroyers-of-worlds-ai-alignment-nuclear-war/
- No, Russia Isn’t Finished
Source: The American Conservative
by Leonid Ragozin“If you were exclusively on a mainstream Western media diet in recent weeks, you’d be excused for thinking that the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime now lies on its deathbed. Signs of ‘public discontent’ are all over the place, you see. Silicon-lipped beauty blogger Viktoria Bonya attacked the government on YouTube. So did the notorious Kremlin propagandist Ilya Remeslo, fresh from a stint at a psychiatric ward. Meanwhile, the former defense minister Sergey Shoygu might be plotting a coup, according to CNN. But if you talk to people inside Russia, as this author does on a daily basis, you’ll find them perplexed and doubting the West’s sanity upon hearing about this fresh bout of ‘Russia is finished’ sentiments.” (05/09/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/no-russia-isnt-finished/
- Nick Bostrom Has a Plan for Humanity’s “Big Retirement”
Source: Wired
by Steven Levy“Philosopher Nick Bostrom recently posted a paper, where he postulated that a small chance of AI annihilating all humans might be worth the risk, because advanced AI might relieve humanity of ‘its universal death sentence.’ That upbeat gamble is quite a leap from his previous dark musings on AI, which made him a doomer godfather. … His more recent book, Deep Utopia, reflects a shift in his focus. Bostrom, who leads Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute, dwells on the ‘solved world’ that comes if we get AI right.” (05/08/26)
- Britain Is Pricing Its Factories into Oblivion
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Ted Newson“At its peak, Britain was known as the workshop of the world. Sheffield produced high-quality steel, Manchester still had a strong textiles sector and the West Midlands was world-renowned for its cars. Glasgow, Sunderland and Newcastle were shipbuilding hubs, Stoke-on-Trent produced ceramics. … In the pursuit of lowering carbon emissions, Britain has abandoned its manufacturing sector. As we have artificially inflated energy prices through policy costs and made employing people harder, our industries have shifted to countries with more business-friendly environments. While rising comparative wage rates naturally encourage industry to shift overseas, the British government has further pushed industry away through deliberate choices. This has created job losses and regional decline as former manufacturing towns lose historic businesses.” (05/08/26)
https://fee.org/articles/britain-is-pricing-its-factories-into-oblivion/
- Guatemala’s step toward good governance
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“Just over halfway into the term of Guatemala’s reformist leader, the ‘democratic spring’ that he and his Movimiento Semilla (Seed Movement) sought to nurture is sending up fresh shoots of hope for lawful governance. President Bernardo Arévalo has appointed a new attorney general, marking what he calls ‘a new chapter’ for the small Central American nation. The outgoing attorney general, María Consuelo Porras, had tried to derail Mr. Arévalo’s 2024 inauguration, and has since obstructed multiple efforts to promote judicial impartiality and transparency. To many Guatemalans, Ms. Porras’ tenure symbolized entrenched political impunity and corruption that used the power of the state to settle scores with perceived enemies and make allowances for allies. In 2022, the United States cited her for repeatedly undermining anti-corruption efforts to ‘gain undue political favor.'” (05/08/26)
- A Tale of Two Waiting Periods
Source: Independent Institute
by Stephen P Halbrook“The First and Tenth Circuits conflict on whether ‘cooling-off’ periods violate the text of the Second Amendment.” (05/08/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/05/08/a-tale-of-two-waiting-periods/
- The Big Apple’s Rotten Budget Move: Raiding Pensions for Short-Term Spending
Source: The Daily Economy
by Thomas Savidge“Delaying pension contributions may ease immediate pressure on New York City’s budget, but the shell game reveals deeper weaknesses in the city’s finances.” (05/08/26)
- What UCLA doesn’t want you to know
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Jessie Appleby“The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law is in the midst of a free-speech emergency. When a major American law school teaches its students that the right way to respond to political opponents is to silence them, something has gone wrong. And when it then attempts to protect those disruptive students from public criticism by threatening other students’ speech, it’s a crisis. That’s just what happened at UCLA this past month.” (05/08/26)
- “We Are Socialists”
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis“‘We are socialists.’ So said Adolf Hitler. The Left desperately tries to portray Hitler as some sort of ‘rightis,t’ mainly because he was so opposed to Soviet Bolshevism. But just as there are different manifestations of ‘right-wing’ philosophies, there are different ‘left-wing’ ideologies as well. And socialism is a leftist philosophy, not a ‘rightist’ one. ‘National Socialist German Workers’ Party’ was the official name of Hitler’s political party (‘Nazi’ comes from the German word ‘Nationalsozialistische,’ or national socialist). Hitler was a totalitarian leftist, not a Christian, right-wing, pro-American, freedom-loving conservative.” (05/10/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/05/10/we-are-socialists-n2675792
- Bringing back baby bonds
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie“Bill Jamieson wrote a Sunday Telegraph story titled ‘Your starter for £1,000’ on 31 December 1995. It discussed the Adam Smith Institute proposal for ‘baby bonds’ or ‘Fortune Accounts.’ When the IPPR copied the idea in 1999, without reference to the ASI’s earlier publication, Jamieson directed them to his 1995 story and published the fact. A version of it was implemented by the Blair government. it was called the Child Trust Fund, launched in 2002 and scrapped in 2010. It would undoubtedly be a very popular policy, were it to be given another go in the way I outline. Each newborn child would have £1,000 put into an investment account in their name, but no withdrawals could be made until age 18. Money paid in by family or friends would be tax-free and contribute to its growth.” (05/08/26)
- Trump is playing Iran by ear. It’s not working.
Source: USA Today
by Rusty Hills“No one disputes that the regime in Iran is awful. The government massacres its own people. Iran is a major state sponsor of terrorism and has been for decades. But the reality is that Trump is ad-libbing the war with Iran from day to day. After launching his attack against Iran on Feb. 28, Trump told an audience, ‘We’ve won.’ Yet here we are, 10 weeks later, with the Strait of Hormuz still closed, the regime still in power, the national average price of gas approaching $5 a gallon and jet fuel, airline ticket prices and baggage fees on the rise. Is this what Republicans are supposed to run on in the 2026 midterm elections?” (05/08/26)
- Celebrating Opposite Freedoms on the Fourth of July
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“[W]ho has it right when it came to celebrating genuine freedom on the Fourth of July — Americans in 1875, who lived without income taxation, Social Security, Medicare, welfare, immigration controls and immigration police state, non-interventionism, a national-security state, drug war, public (i.e., government) schooling, and other statist programs — or Americans today, who live under all these statist systems?” (05/08/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/05/08/celebrating-opposite-freedoms-on-the-fourth-of-july/
- They’re Attacking Online Anonymity, And Other Notes
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“The EU is looking to ban VPNs, arguing that the ban is necessary to police recent online age verification laws. Critics have been warning for years that these age restriction laws are being rolled out around the world to erase online anonymity and enable greater surveillance of the entire population, and they are looking more vindicated than ever today. This isn’t about protecting children from social media addiction and porn, it’s about expanding the western empire’s surveillance network. This happens as the FCC moves to require ID verification for every phone activation in the United States, claiming the push is about stopping robocalls but effectively ending another form of anonymous communication. It’s always been about being able to more closely monitor the behavior of the public to make sure nobody’s plotting a revolution.” (05/09/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/05/09/theyre-attacking-online-anonymity-and-other-notes/
- Mississippi Learning
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“‘Thank God for Mississippi’ was something I heard a lot in my younger years, after moving to Arkansas. Friends from Alabama and Louisiana also know the saying well. Back then, Mississippi was ranked 50th in so many categories by which the states were measured against each other that the Magnolia State saved those inhabiting states near the bottom from occupying that un-coveted dead last place. This was still the case in 2005, when Mississippi ranked 50th in fourth-grade reading scores. In 2013, Mississippi students climbed one rung, to 49th. Then things started to change.” (05/08/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/05/08/mississippi-learning/
- Baseball’s Mystic Chords of Memory
Source: Law & Liberty
by Michael Auslin“Baseball is more than a sport — it ties together generations of Americans.” (05/08/26)
- The Senate Has Gotten a Little More Competitive
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye“In February, we reviewed the Senate landscape, noting at the time that it was too early to tell whether control of the chamber was up for grabs. Since then, thanks to Trump’s falling approval ratings, Republicans’ grasp of power in the Senate looks increasingly vulnerable. That’s not to say Republicans will lose the Senate. It’s more likely than not that they keep control of the chamber, but they may have a narrow majority.” (05/08/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/the-senate-has-gotten-a-little-more
- Depopulation Won’t Save the Planet
Source: American Greatness
by Lipton Matthews“In recent years, a quietly radical idea has gained traction in certain environmental circles: stop having children. Some members of Extinction Rebellion in the UK have embraced an anti-natalist position, arguing that a shrinking human population is one of the most powerful levers available for reducing environmental damage. If fewer people exist, the thinking goes, then less energy gets consumed, fewer habitats get destroyed, and the planet gets a much-needed chance to breathe. It is an emotionally compelling argument. But is it actually true? The evidence suggests not. A growing body of research indicates that population decline, by itself, is a surprisingly weak instrument for environmental repair. The relationship between fewer people and a healthier planet is messier and far less automatic than anti-natalists tend to assume.” (05/10/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/05/10/depopulation-wont-save-the-planet/
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 446
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Adar Weinreb on the Israel-Palestine conflict.” (05/10/26)
https://rumble.com/v79n98s-ff-446-adar-weinreb-on-the-israel-palestine-conflict.html
- The Brian Nichols Show, 05/10/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“I Asked A 27-Year Doctor Why WebMD Is Making You SICKER.” (05/10/26)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/tbns-i-asked-a-27-year-doctor-why-webmd-is-making-you-sicker
- System Update, 05/08/26
Source: System Update
“Iran’s Strategy in the Strait of Hormuz, Fighting Journalists, Animal Rights, and More.” (05/08/26)
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/glenn-reacts-irans-strategy-in-the
- In the Tank, episode 535
Source: Heartland Institute
“Innovation vs. Dystopia.” (05/09/26)
https://heartland.org/podcasts/innovation-vs-dystopia-in-the-tank-podcast-535/
- Bulwark Takes, 05/08/26
Source: The Bulwark
“Courts Keep Rejecting Trump’s Tariffs.” (05/08/26)
- Free Talk Live, 05/09/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“Is AOC’s room clean? :: Cop blocks woman from her driveway :: ‘We know you live here’ :: AI that self destructs so it can’t do damage :: Stores letting you steal until it hits a felony amount :: Project Mockingbird on the internet with streamers :: AOC to become God queen of the aliens after UFO file drop? :: Gov wants more ID to start in the US for getting a sim card :: Tracking private jets to avoid nukes :: Giant data center in Utah :: 2026-05-09 Hosts: Bonnie, Riley O’Bill, Angelo.” (05/09/26)
- The Kyle Anzalone Show, 05/09/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Jim Webb: Hegseth Lashes Out at Congress, Admits Truth About Iran War.” (05/09/26)
- Reasonably Optimistic, 05/08/26
Source: Washington Post
“Tax the rich! But then what?” (05/08/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/tax-the-rich-but-then-what/
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 05/09/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Deprioritizing Business at the 2026 Libertarian National Convention?” (05/09/26)
- Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 05/09/26
Source: Freedom Works
“Jessica Melugin, Competitive Enterprise Institute ‘Social Media Bans.'” (05/09/26)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2026-05-09_zfw005082026.mp3
- Quillette Podcast, 05/08/26
Source: Quillette
“Does Western Civilisation Exist? James Kierstead on Ancient Greece, Christianity, and the West.” (05/08/26)
- The Tom Woods Show, episode 2759
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Marjorie Taylor Greene and Joe Kent Honor Ron Paul.” (05/08/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2759-marjorie-taylor-greene-and-joe-kent-honor-ron-paul/